No, it's really not. It's about 50% more than you'd pay for a shitty, cheap frame, and half the cost of a custom frame.
The OP may not have found product-market fit yet (I'd argue this should be targeted squarely at the pro and semi-pro markets, instead of consumers), but the product itself looks fantastic and the pricing is terrific.
It may be cheaper than similar offerings, but it is still expensive. The thing that jumped out at me from his writeup is the initial problem he was trying to solve - framing a piece of art without paying 10x the price of the art or more. It doesn't _feel_ like he accomplished that, even if he technically did by bringing it down to 3 or 5x.
My inner consumer doesn't want to pay more for a frame than I did for what's going in the frame. It makes me angry. It feels wrong. That's the benchmark I'm evaluating against.
There will definitely be a big difference in desires and perception between the pro/semi-pro and consumer markets. What makes a shitty frame to you anyway (this is an earnest question)? I've never had a wooden frame disappoint me.
Personally I'd rather have the cheapest possible wooden frames that don't fall apart so that I can frame as much of the art I have lying around. To me a frame should be a cheap purchase that gets out of the way of the art it's highlighting.
It may be cheaper than similar offerings,
but it is still expensive.
Fair point. I'm framing hand-made photographs (i.e. made in a wet darkroom) with a retail cost measured in the hundreds of dollars, not posters or prints purchased from art.com. It's totally reasonable that you wouldn't want to pay more for the frame than what's in it.
Makes sense. Most of my art is $20-40 prints bought to support artists at conventions and a simple pine frame would do the trick. Eventually I'll just cut my own.
I'm glad to see OP is targeting the higher end market with the possibility of expanding to the low-end later. It's not what I'm after, but it clearly has value and at least he's not trying to do it all.
We must shop at different shitty, cheap frame stores. I'd expect to pay more like $10 for a shitty, cheap frame in which to put my shitty, cheap poster.
I'm framing 16x20" silver gelatin prints that I mounted at 20x24". It's not possible to find a 20x24" frame for $10 anywhere (outside, possibly, of a thrift store).
I spend a huge amount of money on picture frames. When I'm putting together a show, my expenses for frames easily break $1000.
The OP may not have found product-market fit yet (I'd argue this should be targeted squarely at the pro and semi-pro markets, instead of consumers), but the product itself looks fantastic and the pricing is terrific.